The Ink Stained Wretch #169: 1/22/25

Our Sketch Goes Ape, Art Vs. Commerce in Caricature & More Video MADness!

It's time again for another of the cantankerous, crass, and clueless piles of crap that are these newsletters! This week our sketch was raised by apes, we answer a reader question about the commercial vs artistic aspects of live caricature, and share another MAD video... on with the 'Wretch!

Sketch o'the Week: Johnny Weissmuller!

Click here if you are interested in this original sketch.

After drawing another golden age Tarzan last week (Buster Crabbe... although I drew him as Flash Gordon rather than Tarzan), I had to draw the other Olympic swimming champion turned Ape-man... Johnny Weissmuller! It's interesting to see how much our idea of a "buff" hero figure has changed in about 90 years or so. Weissmuller was considered a male specimen in his day. These days science and advanced training have 50 plus year old actors looking like they were carved out of granite (see: Hugh Jackman in "Deadpool and Wolverine"). Johnny was a true elite athlete in his day, setting world records and winning five Olympic gold medals in swimming.

Art by Wally Wood… not me (I wish)

Good Housekeeping

This is just a quick aside to explain some changes to the Ink Stained Wretch going forward. After getting feedback from a number of subscribers I am now releasing one version of the 'Wretch each week, rather than an early Tuesday edition for premium subscriber and one for free subscribers the following day. No one seemed to care about getting it a day early, and this is a cleaner approach. The video of my drawing the "Sketch o there Week" will not be located at the bottom of each issue of the 'Wretch, behind a paywall. If you are a premium Subscriber, the video will be awaiting you there. If you are not, you'll see a message telling you the content below that line is for paid subscribers, and try to encourage you to pay up! Do so if you wish, but continue to be bored by the newsletter for free as you will. My thanks to all subscribers!

A Commercial Caricature Quandary

I received this question from a reader recently:

Recently, I had the opportunity to do live caricatures at an event. I noticed that people gravitated more towards another artist who was drawing funny with less likeness, doing generic cartoony faces with sparkling eyes. This experience left me questioning my approach. Should I consider adapting my style to cater to popular preferences, or should I focus on staying true to my artistic voice? How can I strike a balance between creating work I’m passionate about and satisfying a live audience?

This is an age old question. Artistic "integrity" vs. commercial/popular success.

There are two aspects to live caricature art… the “aesthetic” part and the “caricature” part. The “aesthetic” part is the visual quality of the drawing meaning the beauty of the linework, the technique, the visual pleasing nature of the art itself. The “caricature” part is the actual caricature being drawn by those lines and technique.

Sadly, many of the people on this planet are “visually illiterate”, meaning they struggle to tell the difference between a truly effective piece of art and something that is just aesthetically pleasing. I know several live caricaturists that have a fun, cartoony style and do a great job with the joking and banter with the model and the onlookers, and make a great living without ever doing a good caricature of anybody. It’s entirely possible (and actually easier) to go with a cookie cutter approach to live work and make a crowd pleasing, sugary product with no substance but which is readily consumed by the masses. You can earn a fine living that way and never have much conflict. However you end up in a listless, creatively unsatisfying career which is the artistic equivalent of flipping burgers for a living and never growing much as an artist. For someone that is just in it for the paycheck… more power to you. Goal fulfilled and good for you. However, you sound like an artist who wants to really do art, and for a person like that the afore described path is both unfulfilling and, frankly, soul crushing. You want more from your work than that.

All that said, there is an opposite end to that spectrum. I also know a few caricature artists who think it's their job to educate the public as to what a caricature really is, and their goal is to push the boundaries past what is actually effective, good caricature and into the realm of distortion and vindictive exaggeration. These artists are actively trying to anger their subjects by exaggerating past the point of simply identifying the important elements of the subject and turning even what might be positive elements of a model into a derogatory observation. Imagine a beautiful woman with full, sensuous lips being drawn as a pair of giant, swollen lips with the rest of her face barely visible. Yes, they are exaggerating the lips that are a central part of her “presence”, but it’s being done in a way that is now derogatory, like those attractive lips are a bad thing worthy of ridicule. In my opinion, that’s just as bad a caricature as the artist that draws the generic cartoony face.

It’s entirely possible to do both an aesthetically pleasing drawing and a true caricature that exaggerates what is important about the subject without trying to hit them over the head with it. There’s a balance that can be struck with live work that can satisfy both the "great unwashed" and your personal artistic needs. It can be a tight rope to walk, and every once and a while you need to reign in your impulses to do a tamer drawing to please a specific customer, but likewise you will now and then get a “live one” that you can go crazy on and they will love it. As a live caricaturist you develop a sixth sense for that sort of thing. The in-between ones you concentrate on finding what is appropriate to exaggerate and do the level of exaggeration accordingly to point it out but not bludgeon the subject with it. So much is about recognizing the right things to exaggerate and how much to push it.

There are times when you read your subjects wrong and they are unhappy with your drawing. Unless you go the innocuous, generic route with everyone this will sometimes happen. It’s the price you pay for trying to stay true to doing real caricature. You have to let those go and move on to the next one. If you try to walk that tightrope you will find that the number of failures (commercial, not artistic) will be small compared to the number of people you truly please and occasionally blow away. Those artists that choose the “bludgeoning” way will only attract a certain clientele, and while those people will be delighted by the approach they are cutting out a large part of the major market for caricature. You can tap into both the timid and the bold client if you approach it right. The bonus is the actual recognizability you achieve amid that balancing act is stronger than either other extreme approach, and that is where you have a major advantage.

That's the philosophy I have always had and tried to impart on artists who would work with my caricature operations.

More Animated MAD!

Here's another segment from the MAD animated Cartoon Network show I worked on!